Before “O Holy Night”: “Minuet chrétiens” (“Midnight, Christians”)

The classic Christmas hymn “O Holy Night” is a translation and paraphrase of the original French poem “Minuit, chrétiens” (“Midnight, Christians”) by Placide Cappeau (1808-1877). Below is the literal English translation of Cappeau’s original work.

“Minuit chrétiens” (“Midnight, Christians”)

Midnight, Christians, it is the solemn hour,
When God-man descended to us
To erase the stain of original sin
And to end the wrath of His Father.
The entire world thrills with hope
On this night that gives it a Savior.

People kneel down, wait for your deliverance.
Christmas, Christmas, here is the Redeemer,
Christmas, Christmas, here is the Redeemer!

May the ardent light of our Faith
Guide us all to the cradle of the infant,
As in ancient times a brilliant star
Guided the Oriental kings there.
The King of Kings was born in a humble manger;
O mighty ones of today, proud of your greatness,

It is to your pride that God preaches.
Bow your heads before the Redeemer!
Bow your heads before the Redeemer!

The Redeemer has overcome every obstacle:
The Earth is free, and Heaven is open.
He sees a brother where there was only a slave,
Love unites those that iron had chained.
Who will tell Him of our gratitude,
For all of us He is born, He suffers and dies.

People stand up! Sing of your deliverance,
Christmas, Christmas, sing of the Redeemer,
Christmas, Christmas, sing of the Redeemer!

 

The Messiah in the Old Testament

I recently took a one-day Ph.D. colloquium on the Messiah in the Old Testament. The entire day consisted of student presentations where each student summarized and critiqued a relevant book. Though time and content required that we paint in broad strokes, it was still an insightful day – mostly education by general exposure. Here are the books that were either listed in the syllabus or reviewed by a student.

• Joachim Becker, Messianic Expectation in the Old Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980).
   
• R. E. Clements, “The Messianic Hope in the Old Testament,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 13 (Feb 1989): 3-19. Related: Paul D. Wegner, An Examination of Kingship and Messianic Expectation in Isaiah 1-35 (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1992).
   
• Adela Yarbro Collins and John J. Collins, King and Messiah as Son of God: Divine, Human, and Angelic Messianic Figures in Biblical and Related Literature (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008).
   
• Anthony Collins, A Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion (London: n.p., 1737).
   
• Anthony Collins, The Scheme of Literal Prophecy Considered (London: n.p., 1727).
   
• Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The One Who Is to Come (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007).
   
• Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000).
   
• Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics: Foundations and Principles of Evangelical Biblical Interpretation (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2010).
   
• Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Historical Method (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999).
   
• Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Toward an Exegetical Theology: Biblical Exegesis for Preaching and Teaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981).
   
• Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., The Messiah in the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995).
   
• Sigmund Mowinckel, He That Cometh: The Messiah Concept in the Old Testament and Later Judaism (Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1956).
   
• Edward Riehm, Messianic Prophecy: Its Origin, Historical Growth, and Relation to New Testament Fulfillment (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1876).
   
• John Sailhamer, Introduction to Old Testament Theology: A Canonical Approach (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995). Related: Michael Rydelnik, The  Messianic Hope: Is the Hebrew Bible Really Messianic?, NAC Studies in Bible and Theology (Nashville: B & H Academic, 2010).

New Year’s Resolutions from Southern Seminary Staff

Towers is the campus news publication of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The Dec-Jan issue contains three resolutions from eight of Southern’s professors and staff members. Several of them, for different reasons, are worth sharing here:

• “Read through the entire Bible two times.”
   
• “Say ‘no’ to my grandkids at least once during the year.”
   
• “Reflect more deeply on the gospel message and share it more often with others.”
   
• “Pray that God raptures all my email.”
   
• “Lead like I believe Ephesians 3:20-21.”
   
• “Distinguish distractions from God’s will.”
   
• “Learn and exercise the discipline of saying no in order to say yes to the best.”
   
• “In stray and sundry moments when I find myself waiting in line or sitting in traffic, to meditate on the Scripture I know and seek to apply it to life rather than fretting about the way I could be using that time to study more Scripture.”

Seasonal Love: Caring for College Students through the Breaks (Part 4)

1. Breaks invite us to explore new expressions of faith, hope, and love. We are called to trust God in different venues, with fewer of our trusted resources at our disposal, in less comfortable circumstantial climates, with less of a schedule and routine to guide us. We are called to hope in God, his daily deliverance, and his final redemption in ways that we can sometimes avoid when we’re settled into comfortable patterns of life. And we are provoked to love our brothers and sisters in creative and seasonal ways when our go-to demonstrations of love are rendered impossible by lack of proximity. Ultimately, God providentially uses change to draw our eyes upward to the one who is unchanging.

2. Breaks provide focused times of extended rest and unforced labor (Prov 6:6-8). Breaks give us a chance to unwind, relax, and refresh. It’s essential that we take time to do this, especially if we’ve run ourselves ragged during the last three weeks of school. Rejoice with people as they hit the temporary finish line — enjoy the celebration. At the same time, they’re heading into a unique season. There’s much less accountability during a typical school break in terms of how hard you work and how much you get done. While this is a breath of fresh air, it’s also important to think through and plan out how you want to spend your time, and it’s important to love others in the same way. If you hear someone talking about their grand goals, follow up with them and ask how it’s going. Give them gentle encouragements to stay the course and fulfill those good intentions.

3. Breaks give us space for less-hurried reflection. The constant din of college life tends to drown out substantial reflection. Like so many scattered papers on a cluttered desk, our thoughts tend to get scattered and fragmented as the semester goes on. It’s helpful and important to seize the opportunity of the break and to carve out time to reflect, meditate, evaluate, plan, and organize your thoughts.

4. Breaks challenge us to care via distance and to follow up faithfully. It’s easy to be out-of-sight/out-of-mind in college ministry. People are here and then they leave, and the revolving door can be pretty intense. Breaks challenge us to care for people when we don’t see them every day; to remember the ways we said we’d hold someone accountable; to write down the date of that family death and to call them on it; to remember that someone has no family to celebrate Thanksgiving with and to invite them over.

5. Breaks provide opportunities to see new shades of God’s multi-colored grace. As seasons of the year change, we see God’s creative power in new ways. And as seasons of our lives change, we see God’s sustaining power in new ways. We are tempted to believe that our stability is due primarily to our circumstances; that our growth has been fostered mainly by elements of our structure and schedule; that our sense of contentment must be based on our circumstantial consistency. But as we walk through seasons that have their own unique challenges (like school breaks), we see and experience unique expressions of God’s faithful mercy toward us. Fresh difficulties are met by fresh grace, and we get to see and worship.

- Seasonal Love: Caring for College Students through the Breaks (Part 1)
- Seasonal Love: The Affections of a Full-Hearted Minister (Part 2)
- Seasonal Love: Caring for College Students through the Breaks (Part 3)